So, yeah, if Nich is going to watch the stairs, Lleidr will move over to Orik and nudge him awake.
Orik rouses from his stupor, is surprised to see you and then embarrassed at how easily he was felled. Even without her components, Lyrie was inventive. Orik points to a disturbed pile of chalk dust lying beneath the slate covered with the map of Sandpoint.
"She scooped up a bit of that white chalk off the floor, muttered her magics, and the last thing I saw was her running towards the door yonder." He points to the west door, leading into the storeroom.
"I don't know what's down there .. never was invited below. Nualia is after something though, something big, she said. That's why she's got the western room piled with junk. Lyrie was hired to make sense of it all ... all the stuff they pulled from the lower section. Makes no sense to me."
"That Thassalonian ruins stuff she was yammering about before? She said something about a prisoner, too. What do you know about that?"
"A prisoner? Nothing. I don't think Nualia ever raided for prisoners."
Then we must hurry before she can find more supplies and ready an attack against us. Or worse hide behind the life of some innocent soul.
"I'm not so sure about innocent. Lyrie said something about already feeling its power. I got the impression it was a prisoner of the Thassalonians so, I reckon, a potential ally to Nualia? But I don't know for sure. I do agree with the hurrying bit, though."
Lleidr will cross back over to Nich and the stairs.
"I'm ready when you all are."
"Oh, yeah, you mean Malfeshnekor. I don't know what that name means or anything, but that's what you're talking about. Nualia's been itchin' to let Malfeshnekor loose. Lyrie told me a little about it. Its presence drew the goblins here long ago, and then Nualia too a few years back. That's all I know about the whole business.
"But ... it ain't right to rouse something evil like that. Some things ought to stay buried. Give me my sword, and I'll help you downstairs."
Lleidr will snort derisively. "What help? All we've seen you do is lie, surrender, and get put to sleep."
"Give the lad a break. He's been betrayed by his friends and has more cause to help us than he ever did to help them."
If he's going to help he'll need his armour back - the Inheritor would want him to have a second chance, says the cleric and starting to unbuckle the half orcs armour.
Help us both change armours - it will speed things up.
[Afternoon, Thistletop, 8th Day After Goblin Raid, Thistletop Level Two]
After getting re-equipped, Orik is ready to follow you.
The stair winds down into the depths at a steep pitch. A stone door just around the corner from the steps hangs slightly ajar, the detailed carvings that once covered its surface defaced by chisel marks and hammer blows to the extent that only a few remnants of images (mostly of gemstones and crowns) remain. The floor here is slanted downward toward the west.
Selia heads Forward occasionally touching the remnants of carvings making sure to stay toward the middle of the group.
Lleidr will take point, listening and keeping an eye out for traps.
Lleidr sees no danger in the immediate vicinity. A heavy stillness fills the stairwell, broken only by your breathing and footsteps.
Eyeing the stairs, the layers of accumulated dust recently trammeled betray a couple of facts: this area has seen far less use than the much lived in quarters upstairs. That said, this site has also seen extensive exploration. In fact, Ned is able to easily spot Lyrie's footsteps from hardly an hour prior.
Ned mutters, "No shortage of dust...watch out for sleep spells."
That's not a bad idea. Lleidr will ready an action, intending to cast sleep as a counterspell to Lyrie casting the same.
Onwards, the priest mutters.
[Afternoon, Thistletop, 8th Day After Goblin Raid, Thistletop Level Two]
Two pillars support the ceiling in here. In many places the stone walls, floor, and ceiling are caked with ancient grime and soot. Alcoves in the north and south walls contain partially damaged statues of a man in robes clutching a book and a glaive. The entire room is canted toward the west, and whatever ancient upheaval caused the complex to tilt knocked the statues from their bases so that now they lean against the western walls of their alcoves.
Lleidr will glance at the statues as he crosses the room to the door on the east wall. Are the statues duplicates or different portrayals of the same man?
At the door, he'll rogue it up.
Ned will take a look at the tracks...
"Hmmm, I think a halfling has been through here."
Ned can tell Lyrie has recently crossed the room. Lleidr finds nothing dangerous or otherwise noteworthy about the chamber. The statues themselves are damaged, and so it's impossible to tell if they represent the same person.
Unless anyone signals for him to wait, Lleidr will open the door.
[Afternoon, Thistletop, 8th Day After Goblin Raid, Thistletop Level Two]
This short hallway rises in a slope to the east. Five feet from the western door, the floor is polished and shiny, unlike the dusty floor elsewhere. A pair of stone statues depicting stern men wielding glaives stand in alcoves north and south of this section of the hallway. At the eastern end stand two stone doors, their faces carved with strange runes. Just past the doors is a third alcove in which a partially collapsed statue sits. The top half of the statue is missing, leaving behind a ragged stump of a torso.
Nicholae casts detect magic.
From your vantage point inside the room, it's difficult to see exactly what is the origin for the auras, but there definitely are magical emanations exuding from the pair of statues nestled within their alcoves.
Care to make a KNO Arcana check?
The auras are each of Moderate strength.
It appears there's a Divination effect surrounding those statues.
Ware the statues... they have a magical divination effect. Not sure they will animate but best be ready for anything, he says quietly.
Onwards. Lleidr - can you discern if that is some sort of alarm? Or Magical trap?
Selina raises her hands ready for anything.
Well a little care would be wise she had ample time to set allarms and traps.
Lleidr will move up next to the polished part of the floor, taking care not to step on it, but where he can peer around the corners to include the statues in his study. Since he's unsure of the effect of the Divination magic Nich detected, he'll try to be stealthy when observing the statues. He'll cast his own Detect Magic and use it in conjunction with his rogue abilities to evaluate the situation.
to stick to the shadows
to ID the school of magic
to determine magical properties
Unable to determine the type, Lleidr can see that both auras emanate from the statue eyes. The eyes work like some kind of trigger, and as you study the floor ahead, you see the statues both have hinged arms ready to pivot and smash into the space in front of them with their wielded glaives. Recessed into this floor space, you see a delicate line, surely no wider than a hair's breadth, spreading unbroken around the entire square.
Lleidr will try to disarm the trap.
"Mayhaps you could tie a rag about their heads, covering the eyes?"
Just inside the hallway door, a slender lever of smooth metal lined with strange runes slants ever so slightly off a groove set into the wall. Your instincts tell you it's tied to the trap's activation.
After pushing the lever into the groove, a scarlet flicker no brighter than a dying ember flashes from each statue's eye sockets. You spy a matching lever on the north wall on the other side of the statues just before the north door. This lever also protrudes ever so slightly from its groove in the masonry. The flickering lights seem to be some kind of timer, and again your gut tells you the 2nd lever needs to be pushed down to complete the deactivation.
After pushing this second lever down, there's a faint whirring sound from the floor under your feet and then a click which you feel from your toes more than your actually hear. The magical auras fade a bit around the statues.
Light then spills into the hallway from the north door.
Just then, a familiar voice you haven't heard in years and, until recently, thought never to hear again, echoes off the graven walls. "When will you stop monkeying around with those old relics and come say hello, friends? It's been so many years since you left me all alone in Sandpoint. We have quite a bit of catching up to do, don't we? Come now, don't be shy!"
The woman's voice breaks into laughter, but the laugh is cold and fills your hearts with dread. It's followed by an audible canine growl.
Orik shouts from behind you. "Nualia, it's all over. Forget this ridiculous revenge fantasy. Ripnugget's dead, and so are all the other goblins upstairs. It's time you surrendered and came home."
Orik's voice is hoarse, and his command sounds muffled in this damp, lifeless hall.
Another voice replies from the north door of the hallway with statues. It's a male voice, with the same accent as Ameiko. "Is that Orik? Ah, my good man. Why don't you explain to your new friends how you're wanted for murder, and if you so much as show your face in Riddleport again, you'll be hanging from a gibbet before sundown? When exactly were you planning on betraying your newly found allies, Orik?"
Nualia? Is it really you?... come forward and let us see you? We thought you dead. I'll vouch for Orik, his actions may have been darkened before but I believe his heart is in the right place for now.
"Thought me dead? I'm so touched. Dearest Nich, I've never been more alive. Here's a better idea. Why don't you come forward?"
Because that would be rapist Ameiko's brother is up there in the shadows, he is a beast! If he is holding you in any way we can help.
Us in or them out, either way Lleidr wants to back up out of the hallway and take up position in the SE corner of the room. He'll make sure to keep an eye on Orik. As a move action for the familiar, Lleidr will have Arg appear next to him.
Well ... I'm hesitating to proceed because not everyone has told me their intentions. I'll wait a bit longer, and then post again at the end of today.
Staring into her eyes Jubrayl looks at her and into her nature
What ever has happened we will help you we are your friends and will stand by you.
Selia starts to detect magic looking for enchantment or illusion spells on Nualia.
"You seem to be set on ending this with violence, lass. Don't you think it might be better to talk it out?
Ned will ready his bow.